The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-10-06

farm laborers, mechanics, country
school teachers, country physicians,
(not engaged in the drug business)
and ministers Of the gospel All per.
IONS becoming members must be OF
good moral character, believe in the
existence of a Supreme Being, be of
industrious habits-must be a white
person and over the age of l6 years.
@. "Does your order in any way
conflict with the Grange, the Agrlcul-
tural Wheel, or the farmers clubs p
A. 1T does not, but is in thorough
accord with the general purposes of
all these organizations. Indeed, the
Wheel in Arkansas, Tennessee, Ken
lucky and Missouri, have adopted our
work, and now affiliate fully with us.
The Farmers Union Of Louisiana and
the Farmers Relief in Mississippi, have
adopted our work"
@. "What is your aggregate mem
bership, and chiefly in what territory"
A.. ."About 100000, chiefly in
eight Southern States"
Q. "Are you not affiliated with the
Alliance of the Northwest p
A. 1--WE are not. That vas origi-
mated in Chicago, by Milton George, a
brother of the noted Henry George.
Theirsi is all open political organization,
and there is not, O a there be, any
utilization between us
Q. "How was your order received
by the press and the business men of
your State, and how do they regard it
now ?"
A. "At first the business men
treated the matter very lightly, and
predicted it's early and utter failure.
and the press sympathized with that
view, and assumed and declared that
we were a secret political order, but
now there is not a paper in the whole
| State that is not our steadfast friend,
and the leading dailies are giving us
their active and earnest support. lhe
business men, as a rule, are most
kindly disposed toward us and u
order, and it's success has their conf
dence and encouragement. Indeed we
have over 100 Alliance cotton yards
established in the State, and most Of
these were built for us with money
and contributions of the business men
in the towns in which they are located.
AS an inducement to establish our
State Headquarters in that city, Dallas
made a contribution to us in lots, lands,
money, buildings, &C., amounting to
not less than 500, 600. This shows
what the business men of Texas think
of u.s."
Q. "Well, have you had any trouble
with political parties Of politicians 2"
y. with the parties, as such, no.
Chronic Office seekers, political trick
sters and disappointed sore-heads have
given us some trouble, but we are
now in a position to paddle our own
canoe"
Q. "You say you have cotton yards
of your own-will you give me the
methods by which you run these yards,
and something Of the benefits you
claim for them p
\. "A detailed statement Of the
whole system, would perhaps be longer
than you would like to have in your
paper at this time, and as it is the duty
of myself and all organizers to explain
fully and in detail this system to your
people: [ will give you only an out
line. Each of these cotton yards is
in charge of a bonded officer-(by the
way. all our officers are bonded,
salaried men. We have no men paid
in any way by commissioner We
have every facility that any cotton ex-
change or mercantile association has
for obtaining the exact state of the
market at any point in the world and
at any hour, and our machinery is
such that within one hour from the
time our dispatches are received at
State headquarters, every agent in the
State knows the price of cotton for
that day, and every farmer belonging
to the Alliance can know what his cot
ton is worth if he will ask. So, a
farmer bringing his cotton to our
yard can take his sample and 90 on
his local market land we always en-
courage them to do SOY and know
whether or not he is offered it's value.
If he concludes not to sell, then we
a send sample to State Headquar-
tiers, where we are thoroughly pre-
pared to get him the best prices in the
best markets. 1t costs him from ten
to twenty-five cents per bale to have